Vyapam scam: Ex-officials’ call records scrutinised

The CBI, which is investigating the multi-crore Vyapam scam in Madhya Pradesh, is now scrutinising call detail records of some former senior Vyapam officials.

Sources said the agency will soon seek fresh documents pertaining to 2013 pre-medical examination from the Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board (MPPEB), popularly known as Vyapam.

Sources said, “The agency is probing the role of three senior officials of the MPPEB in connection with its investigations into the alleged irregularities committed in the 2013 pre-medical examination. Their (officials) call detail records are also being scrutinised.”

The agency has already registered more than 150 FIRs in the Vyapam scam.

“Investigations by the CBI have revealed that the Vyapam scam involved collusion among candidates, government officials and middlemen. Undeserving candidates bribed the MPPEB officials through middlemen to be seated strategically next to a brilliant dummy candidate, who was also paid money. The dummy candidate let them copy from his sheet or exchanged the sheet at the end of the exam,” sources said.

The agency recently questioned former state education minister Laxmikant Sharma and former officer on special duty (OSD) to Madhya Pradesh Raj Bhavan in connection with its investigations into the multi-crore recruitment scam. The Supreme Court on July 9, 2015 had transferred the probe of all cases related to the Vyapam scam to the CBI.

Vyapam is a government body responsible for conducting several entrance tests in Madhya Pradesh. It recruits for government jobs and admissions to educational institutes. Vyapam scam is allegedly a well orchestrated rigging of entrance exams to help undeserving candidates, who allegedly bribed politicians and officials through middlemen, to get high ranks in these entrance tests. The Vyapam scam dates back to 2004. More than 2000 people have so far been arrested in connection with the scam. So far 44 people related to the Vyapam scam have turned up dead.